What we learned from women’s success in 2018
“May the best woman win.” These are the words that Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) declared across the nation as she ran her 2020 presidential campaign. Her hopeful proclamation of female empowerment is a direct reflection of the success that women candidates enjoyed in the 2018— and hopefully 2020— election.
The record six women who ran for president this election cycle.
Recent research from the Center for American Women and Politics reveals that women broke local, state, and nationwide electoral records in 2018 and they show no signs of slowing down in the 2020 election. The report also shows that female candidates— and organizations that support women representatives, such as Carol’s List— still have a lot of work to achieve gender parity in American politics.
The 2018 primary and general elections were marked by record numbers of both Democratic women candidates and Democratic women winners. The number of Democratic women increased from 61 to 89 in the House of Representatives, and the 116th Congress is the first in American history to include both Muslim and Native American women.
Although women boasted many victories in the 2018 election, the US Congress still lacks female and women of color representation. Women only hold 23.7 percent of the seats in the House and 25 percent of the seats in the Senate. Furthermore, there are only 43 women representatives of color in the House out of a total of 435 members. Even though the number of female representatives in Congress have increased, there is still a long way to go before there is parity between genders in the legislative branch.
However, American voters, especially Democratic voters, seem hopeful about lessening the gap between male and female legislators. A Georgetown University study published in 2018 found that the proportion of Americans who perceive women as less emotionally suited for politics than men has decreased from nearly 50 percent in 1975 to 13 percent in 2018. Additionally, a 2018 Politico survey showed that Democratic voters actually prefer a female candidate of color over a white male.
Women candidates in 2018 and 2020 are capitalizing on Democratic voters’ willingness to embrace intersectionality. For example, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California) - the 2020 Democratic vice-presidential candidate - uses her identity as a Black woman to fortify her positions on policies such as busing, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) frequently establishes her identity as a Latina woman to bring awareness to the lack of women of color representatives in politics. In addition to female candidates embracing their gendered experiences, male candidates are also beginning to acknowledge their male privilege. When Joe Biden first announced his presidential candidacy, the media immediately interrogated his long history of making women uncomfortable. Although Mr. Biden’s behavior had been well publicized during his tenure in the Senate and as Vice President, this election was the first time he had received such scrutiny.
Hopefully, voters will continue to care about the value of female candidates and gendered experiences during the 2020 general election. So far, 2020 is looking like another record-breaking year for women candidates. During the 2020 presidential race, four women -- Senators Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, and Kirsten Gillibrand -- emerged as serious contenders for the position, which helped to normalize the idea of a female president for American voters. Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s vice presidential pick, would be the first woman to act as vice president of the United States if Biden wins the presidency in November. In the House of Representatives, 490 women have filed to run for seats in 2020, as opposed to the 476 who filed to run in 2018. Although parity in American politics between genders is not going to be achieved in 2020, more and more women are starting to run for seats in the local, state, and federal legislatures and win their elections at unprecedented rates. May the best woman win.
— Renny Jiang, Carol’s List intern
